CR Achievements

2010

June

Gold rating for CR performance

Imperial Tobacco has achieved a gold performance rating in the Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) 2009 Corporate Responsibility Index.

The Index is the UK’s leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility and helps companies to integrate and improve corporate responsibility throughout their business operations.

Imperial’s silver rating one year ago was impacted by the Altadis acquisition and the time required for the integration of various processes.

The 2009 score of 93.8 per cent was a significant improvement on the 84.5 per cent rating in 2008 and demonstrates the success of integration activities post acquisition.

The BITC’s index rating states: "Gold rated companies are able to demonstrate openness and transparency through effective public reporting of their material environmental and social issues, CR programmes and performance.

"They also expand and adapt their risk management processes by incorporating relevant aspects of corporate responsibility risk and opportunity, and their CR strategy is articulated in an effective manner, including clear and measurable targets."

Click here to read our 2009 Feedback report

May

Imperial rated as top employer

Imperial Tobacco UK (IT UK) has been recognised for its commitment to employees by the independent ‘Best Companies to Work For’ organisation.

A record 1,086 organisations in the UK applied for Best Companies accreditation, which is based on employee feedback.

The accreditation acknowledges excellence in the workplace as well as staff engagement and sets a benchmark for other employers.

90 per cent of IT UK staff surveyed believed they made a valuable contribution to the success of the organisation and 77 per cent said they gained valuable experience from their job.

We are delighted to have received the accreditation and our focus will remain on engaging our employees and making sure they are involved in the business so that we will be in a good position for the future.

May

Award for Imperial Tobacco Slovakia

Imperial Tobacco Slovakia (ITS) has been named as the winner of an annual survey of companies to find the country’s best employer.

HR consultants Hewitt Associates surveyed more than 7,000 employees and ranked ITS ahead of 42 other firms, including AstraZeneca and Microsoft.

ITS won praise for having effective HR policies aligned with both the employees’ interests and the goals of the business.

We are very pleased and proud to win this award because it is based on the opinions of our employees.

This ranking is not based on a company’s name, size, sector or brand. The only criteria are the motivation of its employees and the match between the goals of management and employees.

March

Award for Imperial in Greece

Imperial Tobacco Hellas (ITH) has been named as one of the winners at an annual HR awards event in Greece.

ITH won a KPMG Best People Management Initiative Award in the category of employee performance, reward management and retention.

The awards are aimed at supporting good human resources management among companies from all sectors of the Greek market.

ITH won praise from the judges for its strong links between staff appraisals and employee rewards and their positive effect on performance and the working environment.

February

Online success for Imperial in Russia

Imperial Tobacco has been recognised as a top employer by the largest career and recruitment website in Russia.

SuperJob.ru evaluated 165,000 companies across Russia to identify the most desirable businesses to work for.

Imperial was chosen as one of the top companies currently recruiting in Russia and was rewarded with an ‘Attractive Employer of the Year’ certificate.

The criteria included the level of online interest from prospective employees and the average response levels to vacancies by candidates.

2009

December

Taiwan factory site rewarded

Imperial Tobacco’s cigarette factory in Taiwan has been awarded three ISO certificates within its first year of operation.

The awards recognise the site's achievements in attaining standards relating to quality management systems (ISO 9001), environmental performance (ISO 14001) and health and safety requirements (ISO 18001).

Construction of the site was completed in 2008 and the factory, which manufactures Davidoff, Boss, West and Kane for the Taiwanese market, was officially opened in March 2009.

This achievement reflects the commitment of the team – particularly as many of our employees had very little knowledge of the tobacco industry 12 months ago.

With these certifications, we can show our customers and our trade partners that we are committed to quality, care about the environment and provide a healthy and safe workplace for our employees.

October

Imperial praised for responsible approach

Imperial Tobacco has won praise for its efforts in combating the illicit trade and its management of other social, environmental and economic issues.

We were rated on our approach to a number of key issues and risks by Sustainability Asset Management (SAM), a Swiss-based group that provides guidance on sustainable business investments.

Imperial achieved a score of 73 per cent based on our 2009 submission to SAM’s research for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index – higher than the 71 per cent average for the tobacco sector.

We were commended for our performance in tackling smuggling as well as our social reporting and suppliers' standards.

June

Recognition of our responsible business practices

Imperial Tobacco has again received recognition for the responsible way it runs its business by achieving a ‘Silver’ performance rating in the 2008 Business in the Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index.

Participating companies in the Index are evaluated in terms of how responsible business practices are integrated into their core business processes, including environmental impact, supply chain management and the wellbeing of their workforce.

Although our rating was slightly lower than last year, mainly due to the Altadis acquisition and the time required for the integration of our processes, we performed well particularly in the Index areas of Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Marketplace Management and Product Responsibilities.

Click here to view our 2008 feedback report.

To view the full CR Index visit the BITC website www.bitc.org.uk.

February

SAM Sustainability Year Book 2009

Once again we achieved a Bronze Class distinction in an annual assessment of how the Company manages social, economic and environmental issues while continuing to operate as a successful business.

Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), a leading asset management firm, audits the activities of the world’s largest 2,500 companies on a yearly basis to assess how they address issues and risks related to business sustainability.

SAM assessed us on a range of criteria, including combating smuggling, responsible marketing, occupational health and safety, and environmental policy and management systems.

This recognition placed the Company in the top 15 per cent of global businesses assessed by SAM.

For more information visit www.sam-group.com

2008

October

Imperial Tobacco reduces carbon emissions

Imperial Tobacco has been recognised by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for its approach to carbon management.

Established in 2000, the CDP requires the world’s largest companies to measure and report their direct and indirect carbon emissions in order to provide consistent information to current and future investors.

The results of the latest survey, Global 500, confirm that Imperial Tobacco has received a score of 87 per cent; a lead in the tobacco industry sector and a significant improvement on the 70 per cent scored in 2007.

Imperial Tobacco is part of the CDP Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration and is focusing on reducing carbon emissions within its own supply chain.

The full Global 500 report is available on the CDP website. For more information see http://www.cdproject.net/reports.asp

September

Laos factory awarded environmental certificate

Imperial Tobacco's Vientiane factory in Laos has been accredited with the ISO 14001 environmental standard.

The accreditation was awarded following an 18 month programme to develop and implement an effective and internationally recognised environmental management system for the facility.

Vientiane factory manager, Jack Chen, said: "The ISO 14001 project team has demonstrated a strong winning attitude and great team spirit to accomplish this within 18 months. This accreditation is an important step towards our continuous improvement at the factory in Vientiane."

Imperial Tobacco began a Group-wide ISO 14001 programme in 2002 and to date 35 factories in the enlarged Group have been accredited with the standard.

June

Another Gold for Corporate Responsibility

Imperial Tobacco has again received recognition as one of the top 100 'Companies That Count' by maintaining 'Gold' performance in the 2007 Business in the Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index.

Participating companies in the Index are evaluated in terms of how responsible business practices are integrated into their core business processes, including environmental impact, supply chain management and the well being of their workforce.

Februrary

Sustainable Asset Management (SAM)

Sustainability Distinction – Bronze

For the first time we have been awarded ‘Bronze Class’ by the research group Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) who assess companies for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

This means that the Group is ranked in the top 15% of the world’s largest 2,500 companies, i.e. those who are invited to participate in the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment.

SAM seeks to identify companies that a) are better than their peers in seizing and managing risks associated with global and industry-specific challenges; and b) represent attractive investment opportunities. It does this by identifying the trends and challenges relevant to creating sustainable shareholder value within each sector.

Of the top 15% (367 companies) eligible, SAM gave out the following 204 awards:

• 67 SAM Gold class (eight of which were UK listed companies)
• 74 SAM Silver class (13 of which were UK listed companies)
• 63 SAM Bronze class (17 of which were UK listed companies)

For more information visit www.sam-group.com

2007

December

The Charities’ Aid Foundation (CAF) Companies and Communities Awards

Most effective stakeholder engagement – Commended

The Charities' Aid Foundation (CAF) Companies and Communities Awards were announced on Monday 3 December 2007. We are delighted to report that Imperial Tobacco received 'Commended' in the Community Investment Award section for 'most effective stakeholder engagement'. Imperial Tobacco was commended for demonstrating a dedication to sustainable investment in charities with a commitment to their funding for three to five years, using the Millennium Development Goals as a framework against which to measure.

More information on the awards can be viewed at www.cafonline.org

Speaking about the award, Chris Wickenden, Group Occupational Health, Safety, Environment and Social Responsibility Manager, said ‘It is most exciting to be recognised in this way. Our strategy is to achieve sustainable investment in those poorer communities where we have operations and from which we source tobacco.’

‘We strive to maintain a balanced investment portfolio using real issues to direct our donations into areas such as sustainable agriculture, eliminating child labour in tobacco, adult education, landmine clearance, community health and poverty alleviation. We interact with tobacco leaf suppliers in the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to use their knowledge of the needs of tobacco communities; and with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as our employees around the world, to use their expertise and skills.’

‘We understand that to invest effectively we cannot simply give one-off donations. Hence we pledge funds over periods of three to five years to enable us to see the impact of our donations and to assess the success of the projects and methodology for replication. We also value the importance of the views of our employees and the causes they support by our contributions to fund-matching and Give-As-You-Earn schemes.’

For further information contact us at community.investment@uk.imptob.com